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You have very good English for a Nigerian girl, journalist reveals her racist attack experience
A Nigerian-born Irish journalist, Zainab Boladale, has opened up on the series of racial abuse she has received both online and in real life for being a black TV presenter.
Boladale works with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTE), a semi-state media organisation and the national public service media of Ireland.
23-year-old Boladale, a fluent Irish speaker who moved to Ennis in Ireland when she was four, started working in RTÉ in 2017 as a presenter.
She took to Twitter over the weekend to share some of the racist messages directed at her by online trolls.
She tweeted:
“For months and months, a YouTube channel constantly compiled videos of me from my account/social/TV etc.”
“When I used to write articles they’d post it on racist forums – Talking about racism when you’re a POC [person of colour] is tiring because the experience feels overwhelming.
“After months of reporting the channel – YouTube finally took it down (I’m guessing others featured on that channel complained too).”
Attaching screenshots of the posts, the comments on the videos contained racist and insulting language.
Sharing her experience in an interview with RTÉ’s News at One, Boladale said she spoke up “out of frustration”.
She said:
“I think I was just felt really fed up.
“And there was just a lot out there in the media about the questions about racism, whether or not Ireland was racist.”
She added that she felt
“Irritated that we were still having this conversation, because I felt like we’re constantly having the conversation about what is racist and what isn’t.
“It’s clear what is and what isn’t.”
Boladale also highlighted that she also experienced racism in real life while working on a story about Direct Provision.
She said:
“I was out recently on a report and someone stopped me in a field.
“I was in the midlands and someone stopped me and was questioning whether or not…I think they had thought that I was someone from Direct Provision.”
Boladale said the person asked where she was from. When she replied “Clare” the person laughed and asked again.
“Then he asked a third time and I got that he wanted to know where I’m ‘originally from’.”
When she said Nigeria, Boladale said the person replied saying:
“You have very good English for a Nigerian girl.
She said the man laughed “condescendingly” when she told him she was an RTÉ reporter.
Ms Boladale said the incident “put a downer” on her day adding that it was tough “when you’re trying to do your job and you have these things thrown at you.”
The Managing Director of RTÉ News and Current Affairs, Jon Williams, said in a statement:
“All of us in RTÉ are disgusted that anyone should have to put up with such vile behaviour.
“Zainab’s grace and dignity stands in sharp contrast to the cowardice of the bullies who’ve abused her.
“Sadly harassment of journalists is nothing new. But we expect the social media companies to act quickly and decisively to protect victims.
“All of her RTÉ family stand with Zainab and abhor any kind of racism.”
See her tweet:
For months and months, a YouTube channel constantly compiled videos of me from my account/social/TV etc. When I used to write articles they’d post it on racist forums – Talking about racism when you’re a POC is tiring because the experience feels overwhelming. pic.twitter.com/xSxgbQ6RIv
— Zainab Boladale ?️? (@ZainabBoladale) November 16, 2019
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